Exercising, eating right, and GAINING weight?!

[lavendar19]

Hi all, thanks in advance for your time. I'm an 18 year old female, last summer I went on a "diet" of 1200 calories a day, measured everything I ate, and burned about 600 calories (running for an hour or 50 mins) 6 days a week. I also did full body exercises + weights 4-5 days a week. At the end of the summer I had dropped 10 pounds but my hair started to fall out like crazy and I had explosive diarrhea (sorry about the detail) for 2-3 weeks. I am 5'5 and a half and last summer I weighed 122 pounds, but got down to 112. During the school year, 10 months or so, I went back up to 122 due to not exercising at all. I ate around 1500 or more calories during the school year. This summer, wanting to lose the weight again, I was really careful not to over-do it like last year, so I bumped my calorie intake up to 1300-1500 and burn 600-700 calories in cardio 4-5 times a week, and do weight training 3 times a week. However, in the past 2 weeks, I have GAINED 2 pounds! I am now 124.4 and I weighed myself 3 days in a row to make sure it wasn't just a fluctuation.....and it's not. I am really discouraged and scared...why am I gaining weight?! IT can't be muscle...I can't be gaining muscle that fast, right? I am eating better, exercising more, and gaining weight?? why?:( I understand that my BMI is well within the normal range, but I am a person with relatively low body weight and HIGH body fat percentage. I have 4-5 meals a day, vector with cereal in the morning and a half a slice of toast + 1 tablespoon of peanut butter (500 cals) for a snack I have 30 g of almonds (200 cals), for lunch i have 2 eggs and a toast (200 cals) for another snack i either have a 150 calorie bar or more almonds or some fruit, and for dinner i have 300-400 calories worth of either a meat+lentil patty and a tiny bit of bread or cottage cheese and a tiny bit of bread. What am I doing wrong?:(

[Dr Arora]

Hi, you can safely do some aerobic exercises to reduce your weight. This will not only help to reduce the weight but also strengthen your bones. As far as foods are concerned you can take foods rich in calcium like milk and milk products, green leafy vegetables. Along with this you need a balanced diet consisting of carbohydrates from a fibrous food, proteins and vitamins from fruits and cereals. You have been taking foods containing simple carbohydrates or fat till now. Search for foods which are low in calories and good amount in bulk like fibrous food. All the best

[undervenued]

hi,
Well, I am by no means a professional or anything..... and also male, so that could be different.... but the best success I had for losing weight quickly was low fat/not worrying about carbs.  Since you're excercising, it could work for you.  But I know female bodies act differently than males, so this could be way off!

How often do you weigh yourself?  Could you just be holding lots of water?

[lavendar19]

Well to be honest I was sure I was getting slimmer.....but as soon as I stepped on the scale I thought oh no, I'm getting fat..so now, subconsciously I think I'm getting fat when in reality I thought I was starting to look slimmer.....your wife is on the right path, but I don't know how to keep track of my progress unless I weigh myself everyday:(
If it helps at all..I am a pear shape. My waist is 25" but my hips are a 38"...my diet is moderate-high fat/low carb/moderate-high protein......should I increase my carbs and decrease fat or no, just keep going on the path im already on?

[undervenued]

Do you FEEL different?  Do you feel smaller? are clothes fitting differently?  

My wife says for her, weight is just a guideline...  the real pay off is how you feel/fit into clothes.   What if you didn't know your weight? How would you feel?